LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 131

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
lines for participation in civic events by LCMS pastors and
rostered church workers; and
WHEREAS, President Kieschnick in November of 2001
asked the CTCR in its role of “provid(ing) guidance to the
Synod in matters of theology and church relations” (Bylaw
3.925 b) (in consultation with the Council of Presidents) to
prepare “Guidelines for Participation in Civic Events”
(GPCE) in order to clarify “what constitutes a ‘civic event’”
and to address explicitly questions about the “participation
of LCMS pastors, teachers, and church workers in ‘civic
events’ . . . which also involve participation from non-Christian religions”; and
WHEREAS, The CTCR in April, 2004, issued its report on
“Guidelines for Participation in Civic Events” and distributed it to all members of the Synod; and
WHEREAS, This report addresses, on the basis of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, many significant issues, questions, and situations that are arising with increasing frequency today with regard to the participation
of LCMS pastors and church workers in various types of
“civic events” (e.g., questions about religious pluralism; the
natural and revealed knowledge of God; acceptable and unacceptable prayer, worship, and witness in the public
realm; the two realms; and the issue of “civil religion”; the
errors and dangers of unionism, syncretism, and universalism; etc.); and
WHEREAS, The CTCR’s report clearly states that “We understand and accept that Lutheran pastors may not under
any circumstances participate in joint prayer or worship together with clergy of non-Christian religions, even in
events that may be portrayed as primarily or partially
‘civic’ in nature and purpose. By ‘joint prayer or worship’
we mean worship activities that assume, and falsely so,
that Christians and non-Christians may actually join together in ‘worshiping the same God’ apart from a common
faith in and confession of Jesus Christ. According to Scripture, acceptable, efficacious, and God-pleasing prayer and
worship are possible only through faith in Jesus Christ,
God’s only Son and the world’s only Savior.” (GPCE, pp.
14–15), therefore be it
Resolved, That we commend the CTCR’s report, “Guidelines for Participation in Civic Events” for study to help
pastors, teachers, and church workers make decisions
about participation in civic events:
• That faithfully reflect our unqualified commitment to the
absolute truth of the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God;
• That seek to take full advantage of every legitimate opportunity to proclaim clearly in the public realm that
“only in and through Jesus do we have the definitive revelation of the true and only God,” that God “is known as
Father and Savior only through Spirit-wrought faith in
Jesus Christ,” and that “only the Triune God—Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit—is the object of our worship and the
hope of our salvation” (GPCE, p. 8);
• That honor and uphold the free and willing commitments
we have made with one another by virtue of our membership in the Synod;

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• That demonstrate concern and sensitivity for how participation (or non-participation) in civic events may be perceived by those inside and outside of the LCMS; and
• That recognize that “clarity in doctrine and practice and
charity in our dealings with one another are both essential to the church’s life and witness” (GPCE, p. 23); and be
it further
Resolved, That we encourage all the members of the
Synod to continue to study these issues under the guidance
of the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions (see
Res. 3-04 on Theological Conferences) as we face the ongoing challenges to bring God’s unchanging Word to bear on
our increasingly pluralistic and polytheistic culture.
Action: Adopted (8)
(During discussion, an amendment to delete the final two sentences of the quotation in the final whereas failed. When an
amendment was offered to strike all of the first resolve after the
word events and to insert instead the words for study in the
Synod, the Chair ruled that this constituted a substitute resolution, which the assembly declined to consider [Yes: 440; No: 693].
An amendment to insert in the first resolve the words for study
was accepted by common consent of the committee and the assembly. When a substitute resolution, Res. 3-06 (TB, p. 217), was
introduced, it failed to receive the support of the assembly [Yes:
557; No: 598]. After debate was ended, the resolution was adopted
as amended [Yes: 757; No: 446].)

To Continue Discussions
with Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America
RESOLUTION 3-07
Reports 1-8, 3-01, 3-03, 6-01 (CW, pp. 8, 10, 78–81, 98),
Overtures 3-51, 3-59–70 (CW, pp. 180, 181–184)
WHEREAS, At its 2001 convention The Lutheran Church
—Missouri Synod (LCMS) resolved, “that current cooperative pastoral working arrangements with the [Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America] ELCA be evaluated by the
Praesidium with results and recommendations reported to
the next synodical convention” (Res. 3-21A, Proceedings,
p. 142); and
WHEREAS, Recent ecumenical agreements entered into
by the ELCA with other church bodies have altered the doctrinal and ecclesiastical context within which our cooperative pastoral working arrangements are exercised, and this
changed context justifies a re-evaluation of those working
arrangements (Report of the Praesidium R3-03, CW, pp.
79–81); and
WHEREAS, The aforementioned report of the Praesidium
states, “Therefore in light of our concerns regarding both
the ELCA’s ecumenical agreements and also the ELCA’s
consideration of issues of human sexuality and ordination
as articulated above, the Praesidium also recommends that
the Praesidium of the LCMS continue to assess pastoral
working arrangements with the ELCA during the next triennium and report to the next synodical convention (2007)
whether at that time these arrangements merit continuance or whether developments within the ELCA justify
other action”; and
WHEREAS, In dealing with the concerns expressed by the
Praesidium of Synod, we are compelled to speak the truth
2004 Convention Proceedings